I'm on a team...

It never fails that life gets crazy and I don't get to update my blog as often as I'd like! Anyway, this is the latest Community Corner editorial I wrote for the newsletter on the program I run at the Y.

The other day I was in the hallway at the Y and a maintenance staff member, whose name is also Adam, stopped me to show me a plaque he was carrying around. Now, before I tell you about the plaque, let me first tell you a little bit more about Adam. Adam initially came to the YMCA as part of Volunteers of America and volunteered to work at the Y. Since then, he has been brought on as a paid employee of the Y. A cool fact about Adam is that he won an award as athlete of the year through Special Olympics!

Adam is always coming up to other staff at the Y to talk, and he generally knows information about the programs they run. For instance, he’s always asking me about our Teen Night program, which is run by the Outreach Department. It never fails that when I see Adam, he asks me when the next Teen Night is going to be. To be honest, I’m not very good at remembering dates. So I usually tell Adam the date I think the next Teen Night is, which usually turns out to be wrong. 

How do I know it’s wrong? Because Adam tells me I’m wrong and then proceeds to tell me the correct date for the next Teen Night! In fact, instead of answering Adam about the date I think the next Teen Night is taking place, I turn the question around and have Adam tell me when the next Teen Night is taking place.

It never fails to amaze me how Adam is able to remember the dates of our programs. And it’s not just Outreach programs that he knows about and is interested in – he takes a genuine interest in just about every person he talks to and the job they do at the YMCA. Adam always wants to know who you are, what you do and why you do it. 

Even though he is a maintenance staff person, Adam understands that he plays a role that is bigger than just cleaning – he is part of a team. Adam not only takes an interest in the role that he plays on the team at the Y, but he also knows that the roles other members play are just as important. By showing interest in other people and what they do, Adam shows that it is vital to a team for everyone to understand that each person plays an important role.

This brings us back to the plaque that Adam was carrying in the hallway.

After telling me when the next Teen Night would be, Adam proudly held out the plaque he was carrying and told me how he had won it at the Polar Plunge the previous weekend. The plaque was for the best costume at the Polar Plunge – Adam proudly told me that he had dressed up like popcorn for the plunge and that the costume won first place.

I congratulated Adam on winning the plaque to which he replied, “I’m on a team.”  I was caught a little off guard, so I questioned, “On a team?”

“Yeah, I’m on a team. My team won this plaque. It wasn’t just me,” Adam responded.

This conversation was on my mind the rest of the afternoon, as Adam had just reminded me of something very important. See, a team consists of individuals. Individuals play different roles which advance the overall goal of the group. Being on a team means being part of something that takes on a meaning far greater than just the individuals – a team and its accomplishments cannot be attributed to just one particular individual.

Adam is well aware of this concept, as was seen in his response to my praise, as well as his approach to his work at the Y. The Bible also speaks about what it looks like to be part of a team in 1 Corinthians 12. Here Paul writes that followers of Christ, just like the human body, all have a different purpose or function. The fact that one part is different from another does not make it any less a part of the body; rather it allows each to play a unique role that contributes to the overall function and purpose of the body.

This concept of being on a team and being part of a bigger purpose in the body of Christ is essential to community. Community is best experienced when it is lived out with a collective of people who individually perform different functions, but all serve a greater purpose. For community to take place, it is absolutely necessary for us to recognize the roles others play and say “I’m on a team. It wasn’t just me.”

In recognizing the value of others, as well as the role that they play, we are able to fully understand the importance of what we do individually. We are able to elevate the condition of those around us. We are able find a more complete and Christ-centered view of what it means to experience community.